RiCHMOND

Nestled between farmland hillsides and a river spanned by a stone bridge on the historic route to Sorell and Port Arthur.

Richmond

25 minute drive north-east of Hobart via Cambridge

Home to the oldest stone arch bridge in Australia, and once a staging post for prisoners marched from Hobart to Port Arthur, Richmond’s historic homes and business houses settle in neatly laid out streets, amongst the vineyards and pastures of the Coal River Valley.

Located a short distance north of the airport, we’ve made Richmond a preferred lunch-stop when our morning flight has brought us to Hobart with hours to kill before check-in at our accommodation; or as a favourite last stop for lunch before an afternoon flight home.

There’s a couple of ways to get to Richmond from the airport, the most direct of which is through Cambridge and then north along Richmond Road; or if you have more time and want to get in some country driving, I recommend heading to Midway Point, turning left for Penna Road, turning left again at Brinktop Road and approaching Richmond from the east.

There are excellent cellar doors for some well-known and less well-known labels all along Richmond Road, with wines aplenty for sampling, lunch menus deserving of close scrutiny and food worth getting closer to. We’ve greatly enjoyed several of the establishments along this road and promised ourselves we’ll do more of it. Perhaps you should too?

Richmond wine region, Tasmania, Coal River Valley

The pub is called the Richmond Arms, which is just as well, because there’s been times I’ve left there with an only casual relationship with my legs. We’ve had several lunches and a couple of dinners there over the years and always had a good experience.

Richmond has a number of holiday house-stay accommodation options if you’re looking for a quiet rural idyll. It’s also a comparatively short drive from the Hobart CBD, probably no more than about 45 minutes in traffic, so it makes a good day-trip destination if you want to really ramble about the place, checking out all the historical value sites; or as a lunch, morning or afternoon tea stop on a wider ranging drive.